Reportedly a famous baton twirler in high school, Ruth regularly performed at school events and football games. Despite her successful tenure, she said the stint “led me to stay away from football games for the rest of my life.”

Despite a failed penmanship class in first grade – the result of temporarily switching from her natural left hand to her right – Ruth was a stellar student with a passion for music, citing her two music instructors as her favorite teachers throughout school. In elementary school at P.S. 238, she lovingly recalled piano lessons with Ms. Murphy, while at James Madison High School, she swiftly transitioned to cello lessons with Mr. Barnett.

Once a week in elementary school, Ruth would take a trip into Manhattan’s Upper West Side for piano lessons. Afterward, she enjoyed going across the street to the renowned Thalia Theater, pictured above in its heyday, for a movie and stopping by the automat afterward for lunch. While the original Thalia Theater closed in 1987, it was reborn as part of Symphony Space, a performing arts center built on the site of the original theater.

Ruth’s mother, Celia, was largely responsible for her early passion for music and theater. They visited the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Ruth’s “dream place,” on Saturdays, attending a children’s play series, which featured productions such as “Mrs. Wigglebee of Cabbage Patch.” Later on, at fourteen, Ruth would attend slightly more serious performances at the Academy, including her first viewing of Henry V.

Ruth recalled her first time bringing her daughter Jane, then aged four, to see Verdi’s II Trovatore at the Metropolitan Opera. As soon as the soprano began to sing, Jane started screaming, attempting to harmonize. Ruth realized that perhaps it would best wait until Jane was slightly older to return to the Opera. Four years later, she brought eight-year-old Jane to see Cosi fan Tutte, and so began a new generation of Ginsburg opera devotees. As a Justice living in DC, she was asked what continued to draw her back to the city. She described a beloved birthday tradition – one in which she returned to the Opera every five years on a notable birthday, starting with her 70th, accompanied by her family.

While attending Columbia University’s School of Law, Ruth worked as a research assistant for the School Project on International Procedure. Eager to fully immerse herself in her studies of European legal systems, she decided to learn Swedish and became fluent in the language.

Like the Metropolitan Opera, Ruth considered the Metropolitan Museum of Art the pinnacle of art and culture. When asked her favorite exhibit, she immediately exclaimed “Egyptian! Where they had all the mummies!”

Above, an image from 1907 depicts Brooklyn's Borough Hall subway station, looking toward Joralemon street, where the Municipal Building resides today. The Brooklyn Municipal building, located in downtown Brooklyn on Joralemon street, has since been named for the late Justice. While the movement to rename the building began two years ago, the new name was unveiled shortly after Ginsburg’s death in mid-September. A bronze plaque reading “Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Municipal Building” now commemorates her legacy both in law and in Brooklyn. Additional plans for a bronze statue honoring the Justice are underway, and the statue, located in downtown Brooklyn, is expected to be unveiled March 15th, on Ruth’s would-be 88th birthday.